Transportation Security Administration officers “who served with exemplary service” during the 43-day government shutdown will receive $10,000 bonus checks, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on Thursday.
She was seen onstage in Houston giving out bumper $10,000 bonuses to TSA agents.
Noem said this reward was in addition to back pay, which agents are set to receive in the coming days.
Before giving out the checks to around a dozen staff standing behind her, Noem lauded TSA officers who’d worked without pay for “outstanding patriotism and service.”
“We’re going to continue to evaluate every single employee that helped during the shutdown and stepped up and went above and beyond,” Noem said, adding that employees will be rewarded if they performed “exceptional service.”
It is unclear how many TSA agents will get this bonus.
DHS said in a press release on Thursday that it is paying for these bonuses using carryover funds from fiscal year 2025.
“This funding is available thanks to President Trump and Secretary Noem’s commitment to fiscal responsibility, enabling DHS to save the American taxpayer over $13.2 billion since President Trump returned to office,” the press release said.
Representatives for the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, and TSA did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Noem also said on Thursday that Americans were “damaged and harmed by what Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries and the Democratic Party did,” blaming congressional Democrats for triggering the shutdown.
In an earlier clip in October, Noem said TSA operations had been disrupted and that most employees were working without pay because “Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government.”
Noem’s move comes after President Donald Trump recommended on Monday that air traffic controllers who did not call in sick during the shutdown should receive a $10,000 bonus.
“For those that did nothing but complain, and took time off, even though everyone knew they would be paid, IN FULL, shortly into the future, I am NOT HAPPY WITH YOU,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday, adding that those who continued working are “GREAT PATRIOTS.”
Air traffic controllers who failed to come back to work immediately would be substantially “docked,” Trump said, presumably referring to their salary.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Tuesday that air traffic controllers could be penalized if they stopped working before missing a paycheck.
Longest government shutdown
The government shutdown ended on Wednesday after a prolonged back-and-forth in the Senate and House. Some Democratic lawmakers broke with the party line this week and voted with their GOP colleagues to end the shutdown, funding the government through January 30.
The 43-day shutdown was the longest in US history. It caused widespread travel chaos, as air traffic controllers faced staffing shortages, and FAA flight reductions led to widespread cancellations.
Last Thursday, the FAA ordered airlines to cut flights by 4% at 40 major airports. The FAA added that the flight reductions would be mandated to increase to 10% on Friday to “maintain the highest standards of safety.”
But even with the shutdown now over, travel disruptions are expected to stretch into Thanksgiving, which is typically the busiest travel period of the year.
Pressed on when flight schedules might return to normal, Duffy said Tuesday that delays would likely continue even after the shutdown ended, citing ongoing shortages of air traffic controllers.
